Related News
Related News
-
Spring Cleaning? How about Spring Emergency Preparedness!
Spring is officially here and that means the plants are blooming, the sun is (sometimes) shining, and the grass is green! We've had our fair share of severe weather already, but spring weather is notoriously unpredictable. While you're in the midst of spring cleaning and garden care, consider completing these emergency preparedness tasks.
Find Out More -
EWEB General Manager Delivers 2024 State of the Utility
General Manager Frank Lawson delivered his address at the March 5 public Board of Commissioners meeting
Find Out More -
Nine days without power: My ice storm story as an EWEB customer and employee
While beautiful and peaceful, buying a home on the edge of the forest and surrounded by trees has its tradeoffs. Moving “upriver,” I knew there would be more threats to prepare for, including Mother Nature’s seasonal surprises.
Find Out More -
Preparation and Resilience: How EWEB Maintained Water Service During Recent Ice Storm
Learn about the projects and people that helped EWEB keep water flowing throughout the extreme weather event.
Find Out More -
EWEB achieves power restoration milestone over the weekend
Crews have so far restored power for 92% of customers who originally lost power at the height of the ice storm.
Find Out More -
Reenergized McKenzie River Valley transmission lines allow EWEB crews to restore power upriver
On Friday, a majority of EWEB crews tackled power restoration efforts upriver, after federally managed transmission lines were reenergized Thursday.
Find Out More -
EWEB estimates one week to complete power system restoration
On Wednesday, EWEB crews restored power for about 10,000 customers by repairing large equipment first.
Find Out More -
Second round of ice and ensuing thaw prompt mass power outages
On Wednesday, all EWEB crews, who have been working nonstop since Saturday, traversed EWEB’s service territory assessing the damage and restoring transmission lines and main power feeders.
Find Out More -
Power restored at EWEB’s water treatment plant
Crews restored electric power at EWEB's Hayden Bridge Water Filtration Plant Monday evening, allowing operators to switch off the generators and rely again on the grid. Meanwhile, EWEB crews brace for additional outages amidst second round of ice and during the coming thaw.
Find Out More -
EWEB crews focusing on restoring electric service for Hayden Bridge Water Filtration Plant
With more ice forecasted for Tuesday, all EWEB crews are in the field assessing outages and restoring power.
Find Out More -
EWEB crews making downed lines safe and restoring power across Eugene and the foothills
As EWEB works to restore electric service to customers affected by the ice storm, the customer-owned utility is following established policies and its “hierarchy of repair” to prioritize repairs that restore electric service to the greatest number of customers.
Find Out More -
Leaburg Decommissioning Action Plan
Plan details next steps through regulatory processes to begin dismantling Leaburg Dam by 2032.
Find Out More -
What’s ahead in 2024: General manager’s message to EWEB customer-owners
At the start of the new year, we back at accomplishments from 2023 and look ahead at what's to come in 2024.
Find Out More -
Currin Substation: End of year update
EWEB Engineer Philip Peterson explains what's been happening in the final stretch to complete the substation rebuild.
Find Out More -
EWEB 2023 year in review
In 2023, EWEB invested in our community with grants, rebates and an array of other programs and measures aimed at fulfilling our core values of safety, reliability, affordability, environmental responsibility and community/culture.
Find Out More - Show More
Your electric rates at work: EWEB’s grid demonstrates resiliency during December’s winter storms
January 12, 2023 • Robyn Smith, EWEB Communications
Despite an ice storm and a few windstorms in Eugene and the McKenzie Valley in the past few weeks, EWEB has so far fended off widespread weather-caused power outages – largely because of investments in year-round system maintenance and infrastructure improvements.
And it’s all possible because of your electric rates.
The week before Christmas, the National Weather Service forecasted up to half an inch of ice accumulation in the Eugene area. When ice weighs down tree limbs, the limbs can snap causing outages. This is just one of the reasons why our crews trim more than 300 overhead line miles of vegetation each year.
So, EWEB staff activated our incident management structure to ensure we had crews on call and a strategy in place to respond to power outages through the holiday weekend. As predicted, ice blanketed Eugene and the surrounding areas, but power outages did not materialize.
In addition to vegetation management, we have a full toolbox of "grid hardening" strategies to improve our equipment’s resiliency to extreme weather conditions.
For example, this summer, crews reconfigured a span of overhead wires across 80 poles near the McKenzie Highway to a ‘slim line’ format (pictured). Modern equipment capabilities allow us to replace older double lines held up by wooden cross arms with a single wire. This new configuration both removes cross arms that can fail during winter storms and adds more clearance between wires and nearby vegetation. Ultimately, this reduces the chance of branches contacting the lines during high wind events and snowstorms.
Shortly after Christmas, we experienced relatively few outages from a 48-hour windstorm that blew through the Willamette Valley. Our crews were able to respond and restore power within a few hours. Other utilities in the area did not fare so well.
Because EWEB had minimal equipment to repair from the wind event, and tree related damage was manageable within one workday, we were able to respond to a request for aid from our neighbors to the north, Portland General Electric (PGE), after the initial impact of the windstorm left over 100,000 PGE customers without power. With our local outages restored, EWEB sent two, two-person crews to help PGE with outage restoration.
And with continual investments in our electric system, EWEB is prepared for whatever the winter weather has in store as we finish out this season.
“We are ready to respond to any isolated outages that customers may experience from tough winter weather. Our crews are dedicated to community response and safety, and we will continue to monitor and prepare for weather-related events. Our ability to rebound during severe weather has been a long-term effort that staff have focused on with dedication to our maintenance, compliance and improvements day to day,” said Tyler Nice, EWEB electric operations manager.
To learn more about how to prepare your home and family for power outages and emergencies, go to eweb.org/emergencyprep.
Your Rates Keep the Lights on and the Water Flowing
The clean, safe water and electricity we all rely on would not be possible without the infrastructure that delivers it.
From power plants to distribution and transmission lines, substations and transformers, pipes, reservoirs and pump stations — utility infrastructure is a complex system that requires investment and maintenance to provide constant, reliable power and water.
EWEB plans for major infrastructure investments through our Capital Improvement Plan, a 10-year plan for rehabilitating, replacing, or installing new infrastructure.
Visit eweb.org/rateinfo to learn more about what goes into your EWEB rates and what you get for your money.